Venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs frequently among patients hospitalized for major surgery or hospitalized for a medical illness primarily due to prolonged duration of immobilization. However, many patients undergo major surgery without any occurrence of VTE. Standard prophylactic therapy after surgery is heparin, which reduces the risk of VTE. However, heparin is associated with bleeding complications. Thus, it would be desirable to identify patients at high risk for VTE who might benefit the most from heparin therapy. An important focus of the study is to look at genetic factors which might play an important role in VTE incidence.